Chapter 435: The Crimson Snow
Realization dawned upon Xion.
This was what Caspian had been aiming for from the start.
He wasn’t aiming to anger Xion—his goal was to turn the others against him.
Caspian was surrounded by nearly 500 of his own armed guards. All the while, those Death Walkers just stood behind them, waiting for orders.
The situation looked scary enough to make a grown man cry, especially when the refugees barely had a few good days. They would kill anyone who came between them and their freedom.
Even their lord Xion.
The soldiers at the wall had their arrows aimed at the enemy, but if even one got inside, it would be a disaster beyond control.
Yet Caspian was controlling it just fine.
Xion was merely standing between the open gates with Allen and Oswin right beside him. With one push, he could run back inside.
With this distance between them, Caspian wouldn’t be able to catch them, let alone those drooling creatures eyeing them like their next dinner.
But... that was never the plan.
Caspian wanted to turn the people against Xion, and with those bloody clothes, he seemed to have driven the final nail into the coffin.
That was if Xion was still the old Xion.
"Come here, Caspian. I need to ask you something."
"Your Grace, he is dangerous."
"Teacher, let me ask him."
Both Oswin and Allen were quick to jump in. When Xion shook his head, they had to grit their teeth.
"Aren’t you a good little dog?" Caspian mocked Allen. "Ah, there was another dog, you know. He died howling your name when I plunged my sword into his chest."
"Allen, step back."
Allen did, but the way his eyes were filled with fury, it somehow mimicked the internal turmoil running rampant inside Xion’s heart.
"Like I said, an obedient dog." Caspian swaggered forward until he was standing right next to Xion’s horse.
Allen’s hand clenched around the dagger. Just one glance from Xion and he would strike.
However, he didn’t get the chance to act.
It happened all of a sudden.
The pure white mana wrapped around Caspian’s neck in a matter of seconds.
It lifted him right off the ground and hung him like a sack of dirt.
His feet kicked, eyes wide as he stared at Xion.
When the soldiers moved to protect their choking leader, Xion snapped his finger.
The white light flashed, and in an instant, hundreds of heads were cut off.
The wet thuds came one after another, skulls splitting as they struck the ground. The hot blood sizzled over frozen land, and steam rose from torn necks like a battle pyre.
Everyone who was within Xion’s reach was dead.
There was not the slightest flicker in Xion’s blue eyes.
He calmly looked down at the choking Caspian, who was clawing at his throat, desperate to get a whiff of oxygen.
Blood started to streak down where he had scratched his skin.
"My Darius is alive. If he weren’t, you wouldn’t be trying to negotiate here."
The white, delicate strands that had been so gentle while healing others were now equally cruel.
They tightened more, forcing Caspian’s eyes to roll back.
"Your owner must be watching from some hidden corner like a rat, so I’ll leave this mess for him to clean up as well. Burn in hell, Caspian."
With that, the bones crunched.
The young duke, who was so eager to show his arrogance, now hung in the air, his body limp.
With a dull thud, his body hit the ground.
The air was so still that Allen seemed to hear the loud thump of his heart ringing in his ears.
He was appalled.
So much like Caspian, whose eyes were still wide with disbelief, flawlessly mimicking all the heads lying on the ground.
"What a mess," Xion muttered under his breath before turning his horse back.
The snow was no longer white. It turned into a slush of red and mud, every footprint sinking with a sickening squelch.
Even the Death Walkers paused, sniffing the air as if drunk on the scent of iron.
As if some string broke loose, they started to rush forward. The murky yellow eyes locked onto their targets.
However, the distance between them and Xion was covered with a pile of hundreds of fresh dead bodies.
Before they could even reach their shadows, they were gone.
The huge gates were shut down.
Xion kicked his horse into motion and rushed back, letting the chilly air slap onto his face.
Allen and Oswin remained at the gates for a long time, looking at the disappearing back of their new ruler.
If what Caspian said was the truth, that really seemed like a possibility.
"Has His Grace always been like this?" Oswin asked, his hands still shaking.
He was a general in his golden years, and yet the way those heads rolled down, raining blood all over the ground, it was horrifying even for him.
Allen looked at the empty road with no sign of his teacher in sight.
Perhaps that was it. He might really not see his old teacher again.
Although he was aware that living with the Archduke wouldn’t be easy, somewhere he still hoped that his teacher would retain that innocence.
He had failed. His Grace, Darius, had too. In the end, they had all failed their divine healer.
"No," Allen murmured. "My teacher was the gentlest soul who couldn’t even hurt a fly."
Oswin opened his mouth, but there was nothing he could say.
The Alchemist looked as if he was mourning for something, so, like an old man, he did what sounded best to him. Leave the poor guy alone.
Allen turned to look at the huge gates that needed three guards on each side to open.
It was so thick that no arrow could penetrate it.
And yet, like a fool, he prayed. He wished his prayer to pierce through the heavy wood and into the faraway land.
Ray, Your Grace, I know you’re alive. I know you’re out there, fighting the royal army. But I also desperately hope that you will send us a letter. Or anything.
My teacher is... dying, Ray.
And I-I can’t do anything to stop it.
So, please, Ray, come back. Bring our lord back where he belongs. Please... Bring teacher’s soul back.